


The Dead Can’t Leave Much Behind

by FyireMoon



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: I wrote this to cope Gundham dying, Kazuichi doesn’t know whats happening at all, Lost Memories, M/M, character death mention, dream shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:47:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21665404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FyireMoon/pseuds/FyireMoon
Summary: Kazuichi has a dream. Not a fun dream, but one where a recently dead friend brings up memories he thought he had lost forever and throws him into confusion. In the morning he hunts for tangible connections, and finds more than he expected.
Relationships: Soda Kazuichi/Tanaka Gundham
Comments: 6
Kudos: 128





	The Dead Can’t Leave Much Behind

**Author's Note:**

> This did not go how I imagined so sorry if its a mess and a half lmao

Kazuichi has a dream. It’s startlingly clear; if he knew the word he would call it lucid. He’s standing on the beach. For a moment his breath hitches in his throat as he looks down the strand, but there’s no blood. There should be blood, shouldn’t there? 

“Fool.” The voice startles him and Kazuichi turns on his heel, nearly falling, “Did you truly think I would leave such a stain upon this pristine locality?” Gundham stands behind him, perched on a rock with his arms crossed. He’s in one piece, not a drop of blood on his face. Last time Kazuichi had seen him, his skull had been split down the middle. 

Kazuichi clutches his hair, “What’s going on?!” He can't reconcile the man in front of him with what he remembered happening, “You died!” 

Gundham scoffs, jumping down to the sand, “Obviously. Yet your soul is so wracked in abhorrence and despondency that it pulled my phatom being from the depths of hell.” He stalks up to the mechanic, adjusting his scarf, “Stop gaping your horrid maw, sharp-toothed one.” 

Voice locked behind a lump in his throat, Kazuichi lunges forward and hugs him. He buries his face into the crook of Gundham’s neck, almost inhaling his scarf. It’s like something in his chest comes unhinged at the contact, the tangibility of the person he locks his arms around. 

Had he really missed him this much? 

They weren’t even really friends, if anything Kazuichi used to think of him as a threat to his relationship with Miss Sonia. If that was true, why was he in tears over being able to  _ hold _ him again? 

Gundham rests his hands on Kazuichi’s sides, “You can release me.” 

Kazuichi doesn’t want too, “You’ll disappear.” He can’t understand why he’s so afraid of letting go, “What’s happening?” 

“Your mind writhes in forgetfulness, but your heart retains it’s former life.” He says it like that clears everything up, but Gundhams twisting words only confuse the mechanic even more. 

“Can you speak normally, just this once?” This time Kazuichi pulls away, just far enough that he still has an iron grip on Gundham’s shoulders. His eyes are red from crying, his hat beginning to slip over his face. 

With a tenderness that twists like a knife in Kazuichi’s stomach, Gundham reaches up and carefully fixes his hat, his bandaged fingers brushing strands of pink hair back, “You would not believe me if I told you.” 

“Try me.” Releasing Gundham’s shoulder, Kazuichi rubs at his eyes, “Am I… dreaming?” 

“In a way.” The Warlock sighs and crosses his arms, “We should sit.” The two of them sit back against the rock, settling into the still warm sand. The sun is going down but the ground beneath them still retains the days heat. Kazuichi pulls up a handful of it, letting the golden grains run through his fingers. It all feels so real, the sand in his hands, the feeling of his leg pressed against Gundham’s, the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. 

Was he really dreaming? 

“You are indeed dreaming.” Gundham pulls at the edge of his scarf, his mismatched eyes fixed on the sea, “But your soul called out in anguish and I was forced to answer.” 

“So I called you?” Kazuichi scratches the back of his neck, “Like a soul cellphone?” 

With a deep sigh Gundham pinches the bridge of his nose, “If you must use such a moronic retelling, yes.”

“Why you?” The question falls from his mouth before he can realize how rude it sounds. He winces, but Gudham just laughs. 

“Ridiculous.” He continues to laugh, an angry blush growing on Kazuichi’s cheeks, “You are truly ridiculous.” 

“What’s so ridiculous?!” Kazuichi crosses his arms, facing him.

“Your weak mind has yet to shake free the shakes of the dark demon holding you captive.” Gundham calms himself, twisting the Hell Hound Earring, “You know not the bonds that tie the two of us together in the eternal stream of fate.” 

“So like… You remember?” The mechanic tries to pry out the real meaning in Gundham’s elaborate words, “Your school memories came back?” 

“Indeed.” 

Kazuichi sits in stunned silence for a moment before he gasps, “Wait! Then you know everything!” His eyes shine, “Were Miss Sonia and I together?”

Pulling his scarf up over his nose and mouth, Gundam looks away, “I suppose I shouldn’t be offended, you don’t know any better.”

“So were we or not?” Kazuichi bulldozes over what the other had said, razor focused on one thing, “Don’t hold out of me, man!”

Gundham shakes his head and stands, “It matters not. You would clearly dislike the truth, and we’re nearly out of time.” 

Kazuichi scrambles to his feet and runs after him, “What do you mean, out of time? What’s the truth?” He was starting to get frustrated. There was something just out of reach that plagued him, like an itch deep in his chest that he can’t get at. Why was he so mad at himself for bringing up Sonia?

“You will awaken soon.” Gundham continues to stalk away from him, somehow managing to traverse the sand faster then the running mechanic, “And you will return to the idle slog of your daily life.” 

“Can you… Slow… Down!” Kazuichi yelps as he trips over a rock and falls, spitting out sand. Gundham appears beside him and hauls him to his feet, his face flushed. Clinging tightly to his jacket, Kazuichi refuses to let go and have him slip away again. 

“I feel like I'm on a rollercoaster.” He stares at his hands clenched in the dark fabric of Gundham’s jacket, “And not a fun one, this one _ sucks _ and should be scrapped for parts. My emotions are back and forth and I don’t even understand most of them!” 

Gundham doesn’t respond. His normally stoic face is wracked with  _ pain _ . It cuts cold through Kazuichi’s blood, but all he can do it keep holding tight to his lapels. 

A sickening  _ crack _ echoes through the sky, carrying with it a shockwave that nearly knocks the two of them over. Behind them, the island begins to fall in on itself, folding over and vanishing like a pit was opening beneath it. 

“What the hell?!” Kazuichi clings tighter to Gundham, staring at the scene behind him. 

“We’re out of time.” Gundham growls, and then he places two fingers under Kazuichi’s chin and raises his head, “It’s time for you to awaken.”

“I’m not going to leave you here!” 

“I am dead.” Those words knock Kazuichi’s gaze from the scene to lock onto Gundham’s gaze, “You cannot save that which is already gone, It is a fool's errand to think you can.” 

“Stop it!” The mechanic shakes him, “I...I can’t just…” The words jumble in his mouth and he hisses through his sharp teeth, frustrated. He just wants to  _ know _ . Why is he so scared to lose him again?

The apocalyptic collapse draws closer and Kazuichi tries to pull Gundham away from it. The warlock doesn’t even budge. 

Instead he grabs his face and pulls him in, kissing him with barely contained impatience. Unhinged, Kazuichi leans into it, drinking in the contact.

Flashes of a different life pierce his mind like bullets. 

_ He sits on the bench at the bus stop, huddling into Gundham’s side in an attempt to leech his warmth. His breath escapes his mouth in visible clouds, his sides laughing as the warlock lectures him for not bringing a coat.  _

_ He battles Chiaki in a fighting game, lounging in Gundham’s lap as he is beaten with ease. Sonia laughs at the insults that are being thrown around, her arms tight around the waist of the smaller girl. Gundham kisses his cheek and, in his embarrassment, Kazuichi’s character falls off the stage, handing the win to the Ultimate Gamer.  _

_ With an expert flip he manages to get the pancakes out of the pan and onto the plates, garnishing his own with an absurd amount of whipped cream and chocolate chips. He sets the table, two plates filled with food and a smaller one with tiny pancakes for the Dark Devas. He skips down the hall and into a bedroom, flinging himself on the pile of blankets that hides Gundham’s sleeping form.  _

_ He dives into a snowbank, underdressed for the weather but excited for the snow. Gundham tries to pull him out of the snow, again protesting his lack of winter clothes. He manages to pull the mechanic to his feet, brushing snow from his shoulders. Fuyuhiko comes out of nowhere, bodying the couple back into the snow drift.  _

The dream collapses in on itself, and Kazuichi bolts upright in bed, fully awake. Cold sweat makes his shirt stick to his back and he breathes hard, trying to get his bearings from the dream. 

Rubbings his eyes he groans, “What the  _ hell  _ was that?” His skin itches like an electric current making his hair stand on end. Rolling out of bed to his feet, he wanders to the bathroom, undoing his braid. The warm water helps him brush off the remnants of the dream and the clinging feeling of Gundham’s presence. 

Kazuichi knows he won't be able to go back to sleep, maybe not even for a few days if he can’t shake the dream, so he sits down at the table and gets to work. If he can’t sleep, he might as well put his wakefulness to go use. 

\--

By the time he shows up to breakfast the next morning he’s running off pure anxiety and caffeine. Between working on Minimaru, which Akane had quickly confiscated, and his very moving speech, he had gotten a jumbo pack of energy drinks from the Rocketpunch. 

His speech was meant to impress Miss Sonia, but he’s almost relieved when she reveals that she wasn’t paying attention. He can’t stop glancing between her and Chiaki, wondering about the flashes he had seen during his dream. Maybe it was just his imagination, but thinking that he made that up seemed wrong. 

Everything was confusing and overwhelming, and now everyone was interrogating Monomi, only adding to the noise bouncing around his head. 

Kazuichi backed towards the stairs, silently excusing himself from the hotel restaurant. Outside he took several deep breaths, letting his feet carry him away from the cottages. It wasn’t long until his feet hit the sand and he found himself on the beach once more. 

It was a spotless strip of yellow sand, not a trace of blood or even stampeding feet. He sinks heavily to the sand, pulling his knees up to his chest. Everything feels bad, and he can’t understand it at all. 

“Hey, bastard.” Kazuichi is kicked in the back, his body pitching sideways to the sand as Fuyuhiko comes up behind him, “What are you doing over here?” 

Kazuichi grumbles as he pushes himself back to a sitting position, “Relaxing until someone came and kicked me over.” 

The other boy scoffs, tucking his hands in his pockets, “Yeah right. You’re not capable of relaxing.” He stares out at the water, “Thinking about the execution?” 

Kazuichi sighs, “Yeah.” He runs his hands through his hair, smoothing it back under his hat, “Had a weird ass dream about it.” 

“I don’t even want to know.” Fuyuhiko shakes his head, “What even happened to the bodies and his… Whatever they were called?” 

“The Four Dark Devas of Destruction.” The name comes to him easily and he shakes his head, “No clue what happened to them.” He stands, brushing sand from his coveralls as he does, “Anyways, I’m guessing there’s a new island?” 

“Yeah, some shit like that.” Fuyuhiko shrugs, looking up at the mechanic with his good eye. He sets off across the sand towards the bridge where Kazuichi can see others beginning to pass over the long wooden structure. They pass a cluster of boulders and jump when a strange ‘ _ chkchkchkchkhchk’  _ sound rises up from it. 

“What the fuck what was that?” Fuyuhiko slips into a defensive stance, looking around, “Monokuma?”

_ Chkchkchkchkchk _

“That’s not Monokuma.” Kazuichi starts towards the rock and crouches, “Somethings in this like… hollow thing.” 

“Here, let me see.” Fuyuhiko pushes him out of the way and crouches down, “There’s like a bundle in there…” He sticks his hand in the gap and grasps around for awhile before letting out a sigh, “My arms are too short.” 

Kazuichi gasps, “He admits it he’s short!” Fuyuhiko punches him in the knee and he yelps, “Ow! Sorry! Let me see if I can reach.” He took the yakuza’s place and reached in, his fingers snagging fabric. Something rustles against his fingers and, trying not to recoil, pulls it free. 

“Holy shit.” Fuyuhiko stares down at the bundle the mechanic had freed. The Dark Devas were curled up in the torn remnants of Gundham’s scarf, their small shaking bodies huddled together. 

All at once, Kazuichi bursts into tears.

Fuyuhiko stares at him like he had grown a second head, “What the hell man? Get it together!” 

Kazuichi continues to melt down, hugging the scarf close to his chest.  _ I’m sorry…  _ He thinks, hoping his thoughts reach Gundham wherever he is,  _ I’ll take care of them. I won’t forget you.  _


End file.
